Northern Ireland

Years of mutual suspicion and hate. However things are improving. The main issues that divided people in the past are becoming less relevent- be they discrimination, terrorism, religion, ect ect. There will still be trouble around flashpoint times like the twelfth. The violence may also be a symptom of social unrest. It gives frustrated youths a cause through which to vent their anger.
 
I will not go into the Ireland problem as such (to much thought involved early morning!).

Following the troubles Belfast is very segregated still, catholics and protestants live in distinct areas. The protestants, via their old boys club, the orange order, march through the catholic areas to celebrate a victory.

The catholics kick off as it is provocative, the protestants refuse to change as it is what they have always done.

Thankfully it has chilled recently, suspect what you are seeing is an anger reflex also linked to the economic situation in ireland, expressed via traditional means.
 
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agentundercover explained it well.
Originally being from Belfast myself, I would have to say that now in the present day it's all caused by a small group of ignorant morons with an inability to move on. If you sat these people down and asked them if there are a) religious and b) political you'd most likely find that the answer to both questions would be no.

The majority of people from NI don't want to see this crap any more... I live in Manchester now and I have to say that this 12th of July was a welcomed change from what I was used to in the past.

In my view, having suffered from the troubles first hand on more than one occasion I can say with my hand on my heart that this type of behaviour is completely pointless and just hope that it will stop!

Anyway, rant over ;-)
 
jaycranney said:
agentundercover explained it well.
Originally being from Belfast myself, I would have to say that now in the present day it's all caused by a small group of ignorant morons with an inability to move on. If you sat these people down and asked them if there are a) religious and b) political you'd most likely find that the answer to both questions would be no.

The majority of people from NI don't want to see this crap any more... I live in Manchester now and I have to say that this 12th of July was a welcomed change from what I was used to in the past.

In my view, having suffered from the troubles first hand on more than one occasion I can say with my hand on my heart that this type of behaviour is completely pointless and just hope that it will stop!

Anyway, rant over ;-)
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Try Levenshulme mate, a lickle bit of the old country in Manchester!
 
I remember seeing something on TV years ago where they brought a bunch of N. Ireland children over to the US for a summer or school exchange or something like that.

The kids couldn't believe that people didn't know what religion their neighbors held. How sad is that? To be brought up in an environment of such strong sectarianism and not really even understand why.

People love to find ways to segregate themselves - whether it be religion, skin color, etc. It's a sad commentary on human nature. One wonders if/when we will truly evolve beyond it.
 
The whole situation is beyond pathetic and makes me very sad to think about it. Basically whatever history behind the whole troubles in Northern Ireland (and this history is the better part of 100 years old) is not what is causing issues today. It's the absolute dregs of society out causing trouble simply for the sake of it - people for whom chemical castration at birth should be maditory.

No matter how far we have come as a country (and there has been tremendous progress in the last 15 or so years, thanks to apparent mortal enemies like Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams actually putting their prejiduces aside and working together), there is always a small minority of ballbags (and these are the worse possible ballbags you've ever seen) looking to drag this country back to the dark ages. No excuse for it - it's completely shameful.
 
NeilT said:
The whole situation is beyond pathetic and makes me very sad to think about it. Basically whatever history behind the whole troubles in Northern Ireland (and this history is the better part of 100 years old) is not what is causing issues today. It's the absolute dregs of society out causing trouble simply for the sake of it - people for whom chemical castration at birth should be maditory.

No matter how far we have come as a country (and there has been tremendous progress in the last 15 or so years, thanks to apparent mortal enemies like Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams actually putting their prejiduces aside and working together), there is always a small minority of ballbags (and these are the worse possible ballbags you've ever seen) looking to drag this country back to the dark ages. No excuse for it - it's completely shameful.
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Couldn't have said it better myself mate!

These people are a skid mark on the underpants of society!
 
it is agreed that there are absolute ballbags on both sides and the violence should have been left in the past but the IRA on the catholic side seem more active in trying to bring the dark ages back, killing police officers with a car bomb just because he was catholic himself and shouldnt be a police officer in their view ! also killing two teenage soldiers who had come out of their barracks to collect a dominoes pizza ! the rioting seen in the past couple of days always happens around the 12th july and it is true that the protestants as tradition have marched for years and in the past a lot of these areas marched through were not cathloic at the time but over time they have moved in to these areas and then get offended when the march goes past leading to riots ! all very unneccessary and i will be glad to see the back of it when i move to england in october
 
No need to explain it away. Marching through Catholic areas of town is a provocation no matter what the history of it. Parade routes can be easily changed.

Point being that, at least to us on the outside, there appear to be enough "ballbags" on both sides of the divide.
 
Thanks everyone for shedding light on the subject. Hate for the sake of hate is bad and people who jump in just to show anger is just sad.
 
i am "explaining away" because it is my answer to the question asked on this thread !the parade routes have been changed several times but there is only so much changing can be done..... Belfast is a small city and they dont actually march through the heartland of catholic areas, they march past these areas with police escorts in order to get to their own areas..... catholics go out of their way to get annoyed about it
 
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